It’s time for us all to start dressing like Lightspeed Champion. Seriously. Take a look at any highstreet store and you’re bound to see a mixture of chunky cardigans, clear lens glasses and trapper hats. Add these together and you have Lightspeed Champion’s look. Out of these three defining pieces, the trapper hat is the one that looks to make a big comeback.

As you can probably tell comments are down on Brandish, so when Nick emailed me asking about grey skinny jeans I clapped my hands together in excitement… A clothing hunt!
I went looking all over the internet for some grey skinny jeans with reasonable success. Hopefully there’s something here for you Nick and if anyone else wants me to don my web-hunting gear or just have a chat about clothes send me an email to isabelle [at] shinymedia.com.

One of my own punk-inspired ‘sets’ combines Dries Van Noten trousers, a Uniqlo t-shirt, an image of inspiration and a black crayon with Vans for some high fashion-DIY.

Polyvore has long been the talk of fashionistas and our sister site, Catwalk Queen, runs a ‘Style This’ competition based completely around the image-making tool. Whether it’s a Vivienne Westwood tie or a Topman ring, styling outfits has never been easier! Granted, we men have it a bit harder in terms of finding a wide variety of items but just search for ‘man bag’ and you have a good page of man-bags.

And best/worst of all? After you’ve styled your outfits you can even buy everything you’ve included in your image.

Bringing coat styles back from the dead seems to be a favourite of designers at the moment. They did it with the trench coat and they’re trying the same with pea coats, with stores from COS to Liberty stocking updated styles of this classic look.

Here on Brandish we love a bit of sartorial realism. While Jason deals with cool buys and indie-labels, I tend to veer towards the bright lights of magazines and the high-octane glamour of ridiculously expensive items (WISHLIST anyone?) and the glossy adverts they inhabit.

I do love the high-street and so, with editor’s camera in hand and a trusty phone in the other (who knows what pickle one could get into asking for photos on the streets of Camden?) I set off to find London’s fashionistos.

We’ve made you endure some pretty terrible things on Brandish (see here and here,) and now I present a sneaky snap of New Look’s new adjust-a-length jeans. The trick is you have to button up each different level of the jean depending on what you’re after; shorts, the semi-crop, full jeans or the button-embellished. Is it just me who gasps at this fashion indictment?

Popsugar reports that GQ writer Glenn O’Brien is not down with flip flops and I’m inclined to agree. They’re great for the beach but for work or social occasions flip flops are just a little too studenty. Unless you’re applying to appear on CH4’s Shipwrecked they shouldn’t really be part of your day-to-day wardrobe.

Danish designer Kaspar Harup-Hansen is the latest addition to the Topman Lens roster of designers which includes names like Dexter Wong and Carolyn Massey. Topman’s Design Director Gordon Richardson says: “I have admired Kaspar’s use of Japanese fashion combined with Copenhagen street inspiration. He uses twisted well known classics, with special processing and exquisite detailing.” I like the subtle play on silhouette using familiar items like shirts and hoodies.

Love it or hate it, the opening of another Topman in the UK would be met with nothing more than a shrug. In fact, given their ubiquity, it would be met with a half shrug at best. However news that a Topman would open in New York has created so much attention that Topman started the black trouser project to showcase some up and coming designers.

This week I happen to be in the rather happening city of Mumbai. This former Bombay is, according to US Vogue, the new “It-City” but after landing yesterday I must admit that the gruelling heat wave soon quashed my hopes of glamour and a jet-set style wardrobe. In my stone grey Topman shorts, white belt, Karate Kid t-shirt and flip-flops I realised I was missing something and as soon as I stepped into the light of Indian sun I realised that what I needed was a hat.

What a surreal start to the week- trawling Topman for a Monday Morning boost, I was hoping for a few print t-shirts but instead discovered the horror of the new ‘Premium High Waist Slim Jeans.‘ Yes, that’s right; after drop-crotch and MC Hammer (I don’t actually want to touch this) denim, we are being given the chance to try out the latest jean trend. The high waist has failed to get women on side à la skinny jeans simply because they are impossible to wear. In indigo, 100% cotton and selling for £45, I am left wondering if it is really worth the risk. What do you think?

List any of this season’s It-items and chances are they are water-related or wave-inspired. Yes, that means you boat shoe, loafer, plimsoll, striped tee and navy (hello!) blue shirt.

The mood is light yet determined and spray-in-the-face cool. Imagine sea-side escapades (emphasis on the imagine) and sand between your toes as you loosely raise that striped knit from your oversized Jil Sander mesh-holdall.

Regret, Disappointment, A sense of ‘I wish I could have done something’. These are all feelings you get when you miss a sale. Topman have tried to sneakily put the entire Lens range on sale and hoped no one noticed. That means £45 Mjolk trench coats, £15 Material Boy t-shirts and £25 Carolyn Massey shirts all slipping between our fingers.

There comes a point in every man’s life when he desires an item no one else has. An item that runs no risk of being worn by anyone else in the country. Would you go halfway across the world to obtain that item?

It’s almost but not quite spring, which means it’s time to stock up on madras shirts, short shorts and sunglasses. Topman are on the case, they have launched a range of sunnies in conjunction with Linda Farrow called ‘The Classic Sunglasses’.

It’s well known that while the UK high street is second to none for women it’s still lagging behind for menswear. Things have improved recently but there is still a blokey pub-lad feel at some of the chains.